Land-use panel will focus on local control
As work continues on a systemic overhaul, rural areas get a big look
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August 15, 2008
ERIC MORTENSON
The Oregonian
Oregon's land-use system should give rural communities more control over development and focus statewide regulation on significant farm, forest and natural resource land, a special task force says.
The changes would give rural counties the same sort of regulatory discretion cities have, advocates say. They also could defuse the rural resentment that brought about Measure 37 and other aspects of Oregon's property rights revolt, supporters say.
But critics such as the conservation group 1000 Friends of Oregon say such changes could result in patchwork land-use decisions and dot the countryside with unsuitable subdivisions and misplaced malls.
- [Read more]
Gas prices driving Oregonians out of their cars
Ridership on TriMet public transit soars
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August 14, 2008
DYLAN RIVERA
The Oregonian
Oregonians are bucking the normal summer driving season, driving less and using mass transit in record numbers, and prompting operational adjustments to the TriMet bus and light-rail system.
Across the state, motorists logged 2.9 billion miles in June, 5.4 percent less than in June 2007 and a steeper drop than the national average of 4.7 percent, the Federal Highway Administration said Wednesday.
In July, TriMet's bus and MAX train system had its fourth consecutive record month, with 9.2 million rides. The ridership surge has led TriMet to keep buses on the road that were scheduled for retirement, and to keep more buses on the street instead of in maintenance yards.
- [Read more]
What land use review may have in store for us
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August 11, 2008
JAMES SINKS
The Bend Bulletin
SALEM — Oregon unveiled a one-of-a-kind land use system 35 years ago to protect valuable farms and forestland, keep a lid on suburban sprawl and prevent so-called sagebrush subdivisions.
The system created new vocabulary, such as “urban growth boundaries” and “exclusive farm use zones.”
- [Read more]
Oregon, Washington at odds over toll on new I-5 bridge
Portland officials see many benefits for the fee, while Vancouver scorns the idea
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August 10, 2008
DYLAN RIVERA
The Oregonian
A round-trip, rush-hour commute over a new Interstate 5 Columbia River bridge could cost you about as much as a deli sandwich a day in toll charges.
That may sound like a real turkey to the 60,000 Clark County commuters accustomed to driving free of charge between Portland and Vancouver. After all, the Interstate Bridge hasn't charged a toll since 1966, when construction costs were paid off.
And it might irritate Oregonians heading north for a visit to Seattle or Mount St. Helens.
But the assumption by bridge planners that rush-hour toll charges of about $5 round trip would be a part of a new $4.2 billion federal project now rankles and divides the region.
- [Read more]
I-5 bridge funding unclear:
Washington state lawmakers identify other priorities
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July 11, 2008
ANDY GIEGERICH
Portland Business Journal
As momentum builds in Portland for a new Interstate 5 bridge, some Washington state lawmakers say they'll be hard-pressed to provide critical funding for the $4.2 billion project.
State Rep. Judy Clibborn, a Democrat from Mercer Island, just east of Seattle, who chairs the Washington House's Transportation Committee, and Republican Vancouver Sen. Don Benton, a ranking minority member, say the state must commit much of its future road budget money to at least two higher-profile endeavors.
- [Read more]
Portland City Council puts foot down on I-5 bridge
Commissioners will vote today on the project and are likely to approve parts of it, but with conditions for the environment
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July 9, 2008
DYLAN RIVERA
The Oregonian
But today the council will weigh its worry over freight against the sustainability-oriented concerns it shares with environmental, bicycling and other constituencies who stridently oppose the bridge project. And most council members and state highway planners have agreed on today's half-measure the city can take: Endorse a new bridge featuring light rail, and leave other issues open to more planning and haggling with other cities.
It won't be enough, however, to satisfy scores of people who are expected to come speak out against the Columbia River Crossing project at today's meeting. A half-dozen environmental and health groups on Tuesday called for the Portland council to flatly reject the bridge project, which was endorsed by the Vancouver City Council on Monday night.
"It's time for the City Council to say, 'We're not going in that direction, we don't have agreement about this project,'" said Bob Stacey, director of 1000 Friends of Oregon, a leading conservation group. "It's time to start a dialogue by placing on the table what Portland wants and refusing to approve any of the alternatives."
- [Read more]
Columbia River bridge plans ignore effects of growth
Designers decide not to factor in the extra sprawl, leading to traffic and pollution, that a bigger I-5 span might bring
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June 22, 2008
DYLAN RIVERA
The Oregonian
In planning a new, higher-capacity I-5 bridge over the Columbia River, the Oregon and Washington transportation departments ignored the potential for growth in North Portland and southwest Washington that could bring about yet more traffic and pollution.
The Columbia River Crossing, as the bridge project is known, is designed to relieve congestion on the six-lane bridge that now frustrates Oregonians, commuters from Vancouver, and round-the-clock truckers struggling to keep their schedules.
But a paradox lies ahead: If a bigger bridge with more lanes is built, will it create demand for housing and jobs, and yet more congestion? And will the boosted congestion spew more greenhouse gas?
- [Read more]
Oregon's Measure 49 shows its strength
With Measure 37 replaced, housing plans are scaled back and lawsuits are dropping from the courts
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June 20, 2008
ERIC MORTENSON
The Oregonian
Measure 49's clamp upon rural development in Oregon is becoming hard and clear. Instead of having potentially more than 100,000 new houses built in the countryside, Oregonians will see 13,000, according to state projections.
In a report to the Legislature last week, the state Department of Land Conservation and Development said most landowners caught up in Oregon's enduring property-rights battle are pursuing modest developments of one to three homes under Measure 49 instead of subdivisions allowed under the law it replaced, Measure 37.
- [Read more]
Elkhorn project draws criticism
Fate of resort in Santiam Canyon still is undecided
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June 19, 2008
DANIELLE PETERSON
Salem Statesman-Journal
The fate of a multi-million-dollar destination resort nestled near the Opal Creek Wilderness area remains in the hands of the Marion County Board of Commissioners.
On Wednesday night, about 75 people attended at the third public hearing to review the controversial proposal, which would expand Elkhorn Valley Golf Course in Lyons to include 150 homes, condos, a restaurant and a 40-room hotel, among other amenities.
- [Read more]
Calif. EPA official tells local planners to use potent GHG reduction tool
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June 18, 2008
COLIN SULLIVAN
ClimateWire
LOS ANGELES -- California's attempt to battle climate change through land-use policy at the local level is more likely to produce meaningful greenhouse gas emission cuts over a longer time period than efforts in other sectors, according to a senior staff member from the state's Environmental Protection Agency.
Andrew Altevogt, the climate change program manager at the California EPA, yesterday called land-use measures a key component of the state's attempt to cut emissions under its landmark global warming law, A.B. 32. But GHG reduction efforts via smart growth, public transit, carpool lanes, denser living and greener urban planning are more likely to bear fruit to meet the state's 2050 goals than to reach its more immediate 2020 targeted cuts, he said.
"A lot of the things we're doing in terms of land-use planning are really going to play out over that longer time period," Altevogt told a group of lawyers gathered here to weigh land-use policy in the climate change arena.
- [Read more]
Suburbs a Mile Too Far for Some
Demographic Changes, High Gasoline Prices
May Hasten Demand for Urban Living
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June 17, 2008
JONATHAN KARP
Wall Street Journal
Pasadena, CA - Abandoning grueling freeway commutes and the ennui of San Fernando Valley suburbs, Mike Boseman recently found residential refuge in this Southern California city. His apartment building straddles a light-rail line, which the 25-year-old insurance agent rides to and from work in Los Angeles.
Richard Wells is more than a generation older but was similarly attracted to the Pasadena apartment building. The British-born scientist retains what he calls a European preference for public transportation despite his nearly 30 years in California. Plus, he said, the building's location means, "I can walk to a hundred restaurants, the Pasadena symphony and movie theaters."
Messrs. Boseman and Wells embody trends that are dovetailing to potentially reshape a half-century-long pattern of how and where Americans live: The driveable suburb -- that bedrock of post-World War II society -- is for many a mile too far.
- [Read more]
Is Clackamas County land-use ruling a bellwether?
A judge's controversial decision sets off debate about developers being vested
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June 16, 2008
ERIC MORTENSON
The Oregonian
A judge's ruling in a Clackamas County lawsuit may become a legal touchstone as courts determine whether 30- and 40-lot subdivisions are permitted in rural Oregon, including the heart of the Willamette Valley's wine country.
A parade of land-use cases heads to the courts this summer, and lawyers are studying the June 5 ruling of Judge Timothy Alexander. Although a developer spent nearly $1.3 million preparing a 41-lot subdivision in the Petes Mountain area of Clackamas County, Alexander ruled the property owners did not have a legally vested right to complete the project.
- [Read more]
Growth battle line revisited
Foes and friends foresee commercial sites, not farms, springing up in French Prairie
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June 15, 2008
DANA TIMS
The Oregonian
WILSONVILLE -- Known as Oregon's birthplace and in the 1970s as a battleground over land use, now the north Willamette Valley's French Prairie is again poised to make history.
Growth pressures are causing planners and others to consider commercial development south of the Willamette River's big S-bend, long considered "a hard edge" to contain urban growth and preserve farmland.
The idea of crossing the Willamette is an anathema to land-use advocates, who foresee Southern California-style sprawl spreading down the Interstate 5 corridor.
- [Read more]
Measure 49 stops Clackamas County subdivision
A judge says owners hadn't spent enough on a development project to get a property-rights exemption
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June 6, 2008
PETER ZUCKERMAN
The Oregonian
OREGON CITY -- A judge halted development of a 41-home subdivision Thursday, in one of the first rulings to clarify when developments can proceed under Oregon's changing property-rights law.
Senior Judge Timothy P. Alexander acknowledged that developers had "in good faith" spent nearly $1.3 million on the project, which was approved in 2005 under Measure 37, then disallowed two years later under Measure 49.
But he said that the property owners, who have owned the 69-acre parcel in the Petes Mountain area of rural Clackamas County since the 1960s, have not spent enough money or otherwise qualified for an exemption from Measure 49.
- [Read more]
Council backs Columbia River bridge with light rail, tolls
Metro doesn't dismiss a Portland-to-Vancouver "mega-bridge" with up to 12 lanes
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June 6, 2008
ERIC MORTENSON
The Oregonian
A divided Metro Council on Thursday endorsed building a new Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River that will extend light-rail transit into Vancouver from Portland, require tolls to cross and have room for pedestrians and bicyclists.
The 5-2 decision, after a six-hour public hearing, did not specify how many lanes the bridge should have. Rather, it established Metro's position on what may be the region's costliest public works project in a generation. Also, it rejected a proposal to back off from what critics called an unnecessary "mega-bridge" solution.
- [Read more]
Oregon’s ‘Big Look Task Force’ has big task ahead after losing time
Ten-member group now expected to present list of recommendations for land-use system by end of year
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June 6, 2008
TYLER GRAF
Daily Journal of Commerce
When Oregon’s Task Force for Land Use Planning had its funding reinstated in March, proponents of the so-called “Big Look Task Force” hailed the decision as the reopening of an important conversation.
That conversation was to be between different people, from different parts of the state, with the stated goal of mending what the task force considers an outdated land-use system.
But in the time between the waning days of the 2007 legislative session, when the budget was cut, and its reinstatement in March, nine months of potential work were lost. By the end of the year, the 10 members will be tasked with presenting a list of recommendations for the state’s 35-year-old land-use system.
- [Read more]
Taking control of our energy future
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June 4, 2008
JOHN KITZHABER
The Oregonian op-ed
Our nation's economy is suffering, energy prices are out of control and the negative effects of global warming are occurring. It's time for us to take control of our energy future, bring energy costs back under control and build a clean energy economy that benefits all of us. The science tells us that urgent action is required. We have the affordable technology we need to act today, now all we need is the political will to do so.
Many progressive business owners in the growing green economy are working hard to incorporate energy efficiency and clean energy into every aspect of their business models. We need Congress to support those efforts and lead the way toward strong global warming legislation that adheres to four core principles in order to achieve greenhouse gas reductions and cultivate a clean energy economy.
- [Read more]
Reassess I-5 bridge project, group asks
A commission calls for an update that factors in fewer trips and higher gas prices
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June 3, 2008
ERIC MORTENSON
The Oregonian
Saying that people already are driving less because of rising gas prices and a growing awareness of climate change, an advisory group recommended Monday that planners take another look at the scope of a new Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River.
The Sustainable Development Commission, whose members are appointed by the city of Portland and Multnomah County, called for an updated traffic analysis using current gas prices and considering other factors.
If fuel prices keep rising, the group said in a letter to city and county officials, people will continue to cut back on trips and the region may be able to reduce the size of the project.
- [Read more]
Playing around with Measure 49
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May 30, 2008
The Oregonian editorial
You've heard of being too clever by half. In Yamhill County, it seems, some property owners have been nine times too clever for their own good.
Ralph and Norma Johnson have erected nine mini-houses on their land near Newberg, each 10 feet by 12 feet.
Each of these plywood playhouses sports hookups for water, septic tank and electricity. Still, at 120 square feet, each is no more than a walled, roofed room -- really, just a shack.
It's fairly obvious to surrounding neighbors that the Johnsons are mocking something, or someone. The only question, really, is: What, exactly, are they playing at with these playhouses? And the mystery doesn't take long to solve. They are trifling with Oregon's land-use laws, and thus with all of us.
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State policymakers lack data for addressing climate change
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May 29, 2008
LIBBY TUCKER
Daily Journal of Commerce
With less than a year before the next session of the Oregon Legislature, task forces, commissions and working groups are racing to draft new state policies for combating climate change.
The problem is that policymakers don’t even know what Oregon’s greenhouse gas emissions really are, say members of the Oregon Global Warming Commission, the latest group to study the issue. Neither does the state have accurate models for predicting how specific policy changes will affect greenhouse gas emissions, Angus Duncan, chair of the commission, said on Tuesday at the group’s second meeting since state legislators created it last year.
- [Read more]
Neighbors cry foul over Yamhill County couple's 'place-holder' houses
The property owners say they have a right to build a 41-lot subdivision on their rural land;
opponents say the move violates Measure 49
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May 28, 2008
ERIC MORTENSON
The Oregonian
In the heart of Oregon's wine country, at the point where a hazelnut orchard and grass seed field gradually give rise to Chehalem Ridge, tiny plywood houses have sprouted on Ralph and Norma Johnson's 41 acres.
Neighbors say there are nine of them, identical 10-foot-by-12-foot structures, 120-square-foot houses: plumbed for water, wired for electric and hooked to septic tanks. They meet the bare minimum requirements for legal dwellings; they have Yamhill County's blessing.
To opponents, the structures represent a cynical, bad-faith attempt to slide under the restrictions of Measure 49, passed by voters in November to keep subdivisions off rural farmland and forestland. They point out that the covenants, conditions and restrictions filed with the Johnsons' Ra'Nor Estates specify homes of a minimum 2,500 square feet. To conform, anyone buying lots would have to tear down the little houses and build a far larger home or build ludicrous additions on to them.
- [Read more]
Charging Interstate 5 drivers money to cross the Columbia River remains on the negotiating table
The ideas of Metro councilors and highway planners don't exactly mesh
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May 28, 2008
DYLAN RIVERA
The Oregonian
A proposal to charge tolls on the Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia now and consider adding traffic lanes later got a lukewarm reception Tuesday, as the Metro Council appeared to find itself out of step with a regional bridge-building drive a decade in the making.
But the idea remains in play.
Three of the seven councilors offered a resolution that would enact tolls on the current bridge connecting Portland and Vancouver to raise money for light rail, safety improvements and earthquake-proofing. The bridge would then presumably have less traffic congestion, giving leaders the ability to pursue a smaller, less expensive bridge.
- [Read more]
Putting the brakes on destination resorts
Crook County voters loudly say "no" to further development of retirement-recreation communities
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May 27, 2008
The Oregonian editorial
Thirty-five years ago, when then-Gov. Tom McCall railed against the spread of "sagebrush subdivisions" in Oregon, his colorful rhetoric didn't win him a lot of friends on the east side of the Cascades.
A small, improbable coalition of eastern Oregon farmers and environmentalists applauded him, but not the region's developers, civic leaders and business community. They viewed the governor's remarks as an affront to local decision-making, private property rights and development of the state's most sparsely settled region.
So it's a shame that the late McCall isn't around today to see what happened in last week's Oregon primary. Voters in Crook County, the rugged land of rimrock and sagebrush where McCall spent much of his boyhood, overwhelmingly rebuffed the pro-development forces.
- [Read more]
New I-5 span? Idea calls for toll first
A resolution backed by three Metro councilors reflects concern that a new bridge would just add traffic, sprawl
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May 27, 2008
DYLAN RIVERA
The Oregonian
Three of seven Metro councilors are scheduled today to oppose a proposed Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River, a potentially significant blow to a federally backed $4.2 billion effort to untangle congestion in one of the West Coast's worst bottlenecks.
The resolution calls for charging tolls on the current bridge between Portland and Vancouver, generating money to earthquake-proof the structure, make on-ramps safer and boost mass transit. The tolls would discourage use of the bridge at rush hour, relieving some congestion. Then in a few years, officials would consider a new bridge with additional lanes for cars and trucks.
"That would give us the information we don't have right now, which is how would people react to having to pay for the project?" said Carlotta Collette, one of the three councilors opposing a new bridge. Councilors Robert Liberty and Carl Hosticka also signed the resolution.
- [Read more]
13 Organizations Ask for More Time to Comment on Columbia River Crossing
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May 23, 2008
On May 21, 2008, thirteen organizations requested 60 additional days to comment on the plan to replace and expand the I-5 bridge over the Columbia River.
The organizations made the request because the public needs more time to determine whether the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) adequately addresses the diversity of environmental issues implicated by a project of this magnitude. Meaningful public participation is central to the process, which is governed by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
In requesting the extension, the groups cite the potential for environmental harm, size of the proposed action, large number of people affected by the project, and high degree of controversy. The groups also cite deficiencies in the CRC’s compliance with the NEPA process. The public does not currently have all necessary documents, and cannot provide meaningful comments without comprehensive information.
- [Read more]
A Bridge Over The River Why?
Local pols say global warming is a dire threat. But they want to spend $4.2 billion on a project that makes driving easier.
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May 21st, 2008
NIGEL JAQUISS
Willamette Week
Rex Burkholder until recently would have probably ranked last on a list of Portland elected officials most likely to push for a $4.2 billion highway project.
“Every penny we spend on transportation is wasted,” Burkholder wrote in a November 2006 Oregonian op-ed.
Burkholder is a true greenie. Before winning a seat on the Metro Council in 2000, he founded the Bicycle Transportation Alliance in 1990 and was a founding trustee of the Coalition for a Livable Future in 1994. His oft-stated belief that people should live where they work and trade in SUVs for bicycles and bus tickets has made him, for critics of Portland’s mania for mass transit and land-use planning, the devil on two wheels.
- [Read more]
Who loves high energy prices? The environment
Climate change - The skyrocketing costs pinch consumers but are expected to reduce use and emissions
Monday, May 19, 2008
MICHAEL MILSTEIN
The Oregonian
One of the more promising recent pieces of global warming news emerged from a new federal report: We're likely to burn through a lot less energy during the coming decades than experts assumed as little as a year ago.
That means we won't be pumping as much extra greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, making it at least a little easier for states such as Oregon, trying to cut such emissions back to where they were more than a decade ago.
The shifting trend captured the attention last week of officials working on the Western Climate Initiative, an alliance of Western states and Canadian provinces developing a cap-and-trade system for limiting greenhouse gases.
At least three main reasons are in play, but one of them is something Oregonians are all too familiar with: higher energy prices, whether for gasoline, natural gas or electricity. The high prices are reducing use, which in turn helps limit greenhouse emissions.
- [Read more]
Time for a hoe down right here in the city
Monday, May 19, 2008
The Oregonian
In the midst of all the election-year rhetoric, we hear a lot about where the female vote, the African American vote or the white working-class vote is most likely to go. That got me thinking about the boxes we put ourselves in. Specifically, I'm wondering who fits in the farmer box these days.
The official definition of a farm, used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for census purposes, has changed nine times since 1850. A farm is currently defined, for statistical purposes, as any place from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products are sold or would normally have been sold during the year under consideration. That's a farm. But what's a farmer?
Wendell Berry, noted poet, farmer and writer, often speaks of "urban agrarians." Berry posits that it's "useless and probably wrong to suppose that a great many urban people ought to go out into the countryside and become homesteaders or farmers. But it is not useless or wrong to suppose that urban people have agricultural responsibilities that they should try to meet. And in fact this is happening. The agrarian population among us is growing, and by no means is it made up merely of some farmers and some country people."
- [Read more]
THE $4 BILLION COLUMBIA RIVER CROSSING
Sunday, May 18, 2008
ROBERT LIBERTY (op ed)
The Oregonian
This spring and summer the Portland City Council and Metro Council will vote on recommendations from the Columbia River Crossing Task Force. The task force has been studying how to address rush-hour congestion caused by commuting on Interstate 5 between Portland and Vancouver.
Most task force members have indicated they prefer demolishing the two existing I-5 bridges, which are structurally sound. The six lanes on those two bridges would be replaced with a new 12-lane freeway toll bridge coupled with an extension of light rail from Portland to downtown Vancouver.
Many serious questions remain to be answered about the proposal:
- [Read more]
With eye on region, state may revisit law on resorts
By James Sinks / The Bulletin
Published: May 17. 2008 4:00AM PST
SALEM— Spurred by concerns about the proliferation of destination resorts — particularly in Central Oregon — the state Legislature appears likely to revisit the law that dictates where the developments can be built and what they can offer.
The state’s land use agency wants to study the potential of limiting the concentration of resorts, banning them in critical wildlife areas, ensuring the enclaves serve primarily tourists and requiring developers to invest in road improvements nearby.
“We are talking about studying before we move, but who knows what the Legislature may say,” said Bob Rindy, who works on resort issues for the Department of Land Conservation and Development, the state land use agency.
The department in April sent a blueprint of potential reforms to Gov. Ted Kulongoski and his staff, who are deciding what they’ll ask lawmakers to pass in 2009.
- [Read more]
Agency: Oregon doesn't need imported LNG
May 09, 2008
TED SICKINGER
The Oregonian
In a potentially fatal blow to three proposals to build liquefied natural gas terminals in Oregon, the state Department of Energy released a report Friday stating that imported LNG isn't needed, would be more expensive and polluting than domestic natural gas, and would come at a higher environmental cost than alternative proposals to ship more gas in from Wyoming.
- [Read more]
More cross-river commuters leave cars home
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
COURTNEY SHERWOOD
Columbian Staff Writer
With gas prices at record highs, Clark County and Portland drivers appear to have finally changed their habits.
Traffic across the Interstate 5 and Interstate 205 bridges, which has gradually ticked upward for most of the past decade, nudged down a fraction in February and dropped 3.3 percent in March, according to preliminary figures from the Oregon Department of Transportation. No figures are out yet for April or May, but those who watch the bridges each day say drives are getting easier.
- [Read more]
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Bridge faces a wide gulf
Business, environmental groups have differing goals for I-5 river crossing plan
May 2, 2008
JIM REDDEN
The Portland Tribune,
Events have overtaken the Columbia River Crossing, the project intended to reduce congestion and improve safety on the freeway link between Portland and Vancouver, Wash.
Battle lines already have been drawn over the project options under consideration – even though a detailed study of them was released just today.
The study, called the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, looked at five options, ranging from doing nothing to a $4 billion-plus overhaul of the five-mile stretch of Interstate 5 from State Route 500 in Vancouver to North Columbia Boulevard in Portland.
The study is intended to help government officials in both states decide which of the five options to submit to the federal government for funding.
But interest groups already have started taking stands on the options.
[Read more]
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New I-5 bridge? You decide
Reports touting a toll span, with far less congestion, will help the public choose which way to go
May 02, 2008
DYLAN RIVERA
The Oregonian
Replacing the decrepit Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River with mass transit lines and new car lanes on a toll bridge would reduce future traffic congestion by two-thirds, from a whopping 15 hours a day to potentially less than five.
That's a key finding in a massive set of reports by transportation professionals in Oregon and Washington to be released today.
Significantly, an intermediate measure -- leaving the current bridge in place but adding supplementary spans containing more lanes, mass transit and bicycle lanes -- would reduce congestion by just one-third, to a better but grinding 11 hours a day.
As Oregon and Washington struggle to decide which kind of bridge to erect, they are required by law to weigh benefits and environmental impacts. Today's reports are designed to help residents and leaders alike decide.
- [Read more]
Spike in gas prices help burst housing bubble, a Portland economist suggests
Most economists explain the downturn in other terms: the mortgage lending crunch, overbuilding by homebuilders and speculation
April 30, 2008
DYLAN RIVERA
The Oregonian
First it was the faltering economy. Then came rising commodity prices.
Can steadily increasing gas prices also be blamed for bursting the housing bubble?
Yes, says Portland economist Joe Cortright of Impresa Inc. "The gas price spike popped the housing bubble," he writes in a new report called "Driven to the Brink."
- [Read more]
2 officials meet, get money from gas lobby
Commissioners - Critics of a pipeline through Clackamas County are infuriated
April 30, 2008
PETER ZUCKERMAN
The Oregonian
Two of Clackamas County's three commissioners have privately met with natural gas lobbyists and accepted industry campaign contributions, infuriating critics who consider a proposed pipeline an environmental disaster.
Opponents say commissioners should meet with residents affected by the project, hold public hearings and find out what the people they represent think about the pipeline proposal.
- [Read more]
